businesses (often having overcome huge adversity), they generally had very limited appreciation of the fundamental nature of trusts and similar structures, the full range of uses to which they could be put and the way in which the different parties involved in such structures would interact in practice. The education process was something I found very interesting and a valuable investment of time in building client relationships which I never begrudged, but it did inevitably involve a major call on my time. A further factor flowing from the education issue, was the need to invest considerable time and effort in developing an understanding of what each client was really seeking to achieve. This was often extremely difficult as many clients were hugely reluctant to reveal more than a small part of their overall circumstances and goals. There was no substitute for spending time and allowing clients time between meetings to reflect. In addition, it quickly became apparent that being commercially aware and being able to take a pragmatic and practical approach to legal advice was an absolute must. Naturally, all advice had to be rigorous and technically correct in all respects, but that alone was not sufficient. As a legal advisor it was necessary to appreciate how the advice you were giving fitted with the client’s business and how that advice could assist the business and the client achieve their wider goals. And meeting the client’s commercial time
constraints (no matter how short) was also a critical part of this. While these issues were a significant challenge, they also made the work particularly interesting as the work was clearly an integral part of the operation and success of the client’s business and helped to make me as an advisor feel much closer to the business and the client.
Competition is fierce with virtually all the leading international law firms (including the leading offshore firms) having at least one office in the region. Allied to commercial awareness is the need to focus relentlessly on providing value to clients. Although the Asian market is vast, still growing rapidly and presents very great opportunity, competition is fierce with virtually all the leading international law firms (including the leading offshore firms) having at least one office in the region. Asian clients are very aware of this and understandably take full advantage of the position by demanding the very keenest pricing available. Fixed or capped fee arrangements are normal for much work.
the know-how and systems are in place to allow advice and documents to be produced as efficiently as possible and with the minimum possible delay. And partly this involves communicating with clients to explain why certain matters simply require more work (and more cost) than the client may have thought. And a further element of this is appreciating that one’s clients are in business and being prepared to share an element of that business risk through suitable fee arrangements. Such issues are never easy, but my experience was that even the most cost-conscious Asian client appreciated their lawyer being open about the issues and being prepared to adopt a pragmatic and commercial approach as we did. Some may say that all these points are simple, basic, and obvious to any legal practitioner. Perhaps. But these principles remain of fundamental importance. One of the real benefits of living and working in a totally different environment such as Asia is that it allows one to look at what one does and the way one does it, look back at and re-visit fundamental principles such as these and use the opportunity to learn from them and continually improve. I very much hope that that’s the souvenir that I’ve brought back to my Guernsey legal practice from Hong Kong.
These factors require multiple responses. Partly that involves a relentless focus upon efficiency and effectiveness - ensuring that
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